Local News

Water valve fails amid attempt to find source of jail flooding

No danger from black flakes in Fort Morgan water caused by loss of pressure in lines

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
01/03/2018 05:47:01 PM MST

Traffic cones and barricades dot the stretch of East Beaver Avenue between Warner and Linda streets to keep vehicles away from the large hole cut to deal with broken valves causing leaks in the large, underground water line. This was a contributing factor in the weekend flooding at the Morgan County Justice Center. The cones likely will stay in place for a while, since the city plans to keep the hole open so that more repair work can be done on the water line and its valves over the next couple weeks. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

Fort Morgan Water Distribution Department's attempt to help pinpoint the exact source of weekend flooding at the Morgan County Justice Center wound up causing an even bigger problem a larger chunk of the city.

The city's role in this situation began after receiving a call about the frozen pipes at the justice center, Fort Morgan Water Resources/Utilities Director Brent Nation explained.

"They called the on-call water department gentleman to come over and try to help them isolate their problem," he said.

The city worker's plan at that point was to shut down a water valve outside the building on the large main line that runs under East Beaver Avenue.

But that valve cracked during the process of closing it, sending a rush of water into the street and causing even more trouble with controlling the water system in that area.

Nation said this new problem took around 12 hours to get under control due to the water line being an older, 14-inch one and the city not stocking replacement parts for it.

Making matters worse, when an initial fix was found for the broken valve, that fix also broke.

That meant the city could not completely stop the flow of water there yet Saturday, instead only being able to lessen it. This was accomplished by turning down the water pressure by quite a bit later that day, Nation explained.

But that action had some consequences for the larger water system, he said.

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"When you do that it in the system it typically breaks the manganese loose in the pipes, so then people start getting the little black and brown flakes," Nation said.

Those affected by both the lower water pressure and manganese flakes let the city know about it, he said, offering apologies on behalf of the city.

Such black and brown manganese flakes show up in the city water now and then, usually after routine flushing of lines or when there are major pressure changes. Nation previously said these flakes are of an inert substance on the inside of pipes and will not cause harm if ingested. In the past, he had suggested running water for a while as a way to get rid of the flakes that had settled in pipes and were coming out with the water.

On Tuesday, the water distribution workers "spent most of the day getting the valves back on to where everybody was back and pressurized so they could run business like usual," Nation said.

The city has barricades and traffic cones set up on East Beaver Avenue to create a detour around the large hole, which will stay open until the valves and water line are fully repaired.

"We're having to let the water just come to the surface during the day, and then we go over there with the (vacuum) truck and we (vacuum) the hole out," Nation said. "Until we get it fixed, we're going to have to leave it open."

Mayor Ron Shaver asked city residents to be careful when driving in this area and to follow the detours away from the hole.

This water line runs under Beaver "all the way out to the industrial park," he said, calling it an "odd-sized line" that had been made with "unique materials." That makes it more difficult for the city to be able to quickly repair it, as outside contractors will be needed for doing some of the work and specialty parts need to be found.

"We're going to have to do some emergency work on that water line," Nation said.

That water line work likely will mean "some type of shutdown again at the judicial complex," he said, but the goal is for that to be short enough not to require another evacuation of the jail. However, that depends on what is found once that repair work begins.

"We will get stuff like that scheduled and done on kind of an emergency basis and hopefully get that back up and going."

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